RRosternomics
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Cubs CHC

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GM: Ed Lynch

Overview

REBUILD ↘ cooling
cheap & losing · year 3 in this regime · payroll 0.98× league · TAB -11.5
-11.5TAB — talent above budget27th/28
-13.7WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)28th/28
4.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars24th/28
-5.7dead WAR — sub-replacement drag19th/28
25%dead money %15th/28
0.420win %24th/28
22.5roster fWAR24th/28
-16surplus $M (value vs cost)24th/28
$39Mpayroll $M17th/28

Roster

CFLance Johnson 105GDoug Glanville 30GRobin Jennings 2G
LFDoug Glanville 120GBrant Brown 27GBrooks Kieschnick 26G
RFSammy Sosa 161GDoug Glanville 1GBrooks Kieschnick 1G
SSManny Alexander 54GJosé Hernández 21GKevin Orie 3G
2BRyne Sandberg 126GManny Alexander 35GJosé Hernández 20G
3BKevin Orie 112GDave Hansen 51GJosé Hernández 47G
1BMark Grace 148GBrant Brown 12GDave Hansen 4G
STARTERSSteve Trachsel 1.7WARKevin Tapani 1.6WARMark Clark 1.3WARGeremi Gonzalez 1.0WARAmaury Telemaco 0.7WAR
CScott Servais 118GTyler Houston 41GMike Hubbard 20G
DHDave Clark 4GLance Johnson 1GRyne Sandberg 1G
BULLPEN★ Terry Adams 18svBob Patterson 0hKent Bottenfield 0hRamón Tatis 0hMarc Pisciotta 0hRamon Morel 0hRodney Myers 0hDave Swartzbaugh 0h
CScott Servais 118 · Tyler Houston 41 · Mike Hubbard 20
1BMark Grace 148 · Brant Brown 12 · Dave Hansen 4
2BRyne Sandberg 126 · Manny Alexander 35 · José Hernández 20
3BKevin Orie 112 · Dave Hansen 51 · José Hernández 47
SSManny Alexander 54 · José Hernández 21 · Kevin Orie 3
LFDoug Glanville 120 · Brant Brown 27 · Brooks Kieschnick 26
CFLance Johnson 105 · Doug Glanville 30 · Robin Jennings 2
RFSammy Sosa 161 · Doug Glanville 1 · Brooks Kieschnick 1
DHDave Clark 4 · Lance Johnson 1 · Ryne Sandberg 1
SPSteve Trachsel 1.7 · Kevin Tapani 1.6 · Mark Clark 1.3 · Geremi Gonzalez 1.0 · Amaury Telemaco 0.7
BP★ Terry Adams 18 · Bob Patterson 0 · Kent Bottenfield 0 · Ramón Tatis 0 · Marc Pisciotta 0 · Ramon Morel 0 · Rodney Myers 0 · Dave Swartzbaugh 0

Each position lists its starter then backups by games (so platoons & bench show). Starters (mound) & bullpen (left, foul territory) are ranked by WAR; ★ marks the closer (most save chances). MLB Stats API.

1997 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Mark Grace 33 FA-elig 1514.7 4.5 +0.2
Sammy Sosa 28 FA-elig 1622.5 5.5 -3.0
Kevin Orie 24 pre-arb 1142.3 0.1 +2.2
Brian McRae↔ NYM 29 FA-elig 1082.3 2.8 -0.4
Steve Trachsel 26 arb 341.7 2.1 -0.3
Kevin Tapani 33 FA-elig 131.6 3.8 -2.1
Doug Glanville 26 pre-arb 1461.5 0.2 +1.4
Mark Clark↔ NYM 29 FA-elig 91.3 0.6 +0.7
Frank Castillo↔ COL 28 FA-elig 201.1 1.0 +0.1
Terry Mulholland↔ SFG 34 FA-elig 251.1 1.5 -0.4
Geremi Gonzalez 22 pre-arb 231.0 0.1 +0.9
Terry Adams 24 pre-arb 741.0 0.2 +0.8
José Hernández 27 FA-elig 1210.9 0.5 +0.5
Scott Servais 30 FA-elig 1220.8 1.4 -0.6
Bob Patterson 38 FA-elig 760.8 1.1 -0.3
Amaury Telemaco 23 – 100.7 – –
Ryne Sandberg 37 FA-elig 1350.7 3.2 -2.5
Dave Hansen 28 FA-elig 900.5 0.3 +0.2
Dave Clark 34 FA-elig 1020.5 0.5 +0.1
Lance Johnson↔ NYM 33 FA-elig 390.3 1.1 -0.8
Turk Wendell↔ NYM 30 arb 520.3 0.3 -0.0
Marc Pisciotta 26 pre-arb 240.2 0.1 +0.1
Kevin Foster 28 arb 300.2 0.3 -0.1
Manny Alexander↔ NYM 26 arb 330.1 0.1 +0.1
Dave Stevens↔ MIN 27 arb 100.1 0.1 -0.1
Terrell Lowery 26 – 90.1 – –
Miguel Cairo 23 – 160.0 – –
Ramon Morel↔ PIT 22 – 3-0.1 – –
Miguel Batista 26 arb 11-0.1 0.2 -0.2
Rodney Myers 28 – 5-0.1 – –
Brooks Kieschnick 25 – 39-0.1 – –
Dave Swartzbaugh 29 pre-arb 2-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Larry Casian↔ KCR 31 FA-elig 12-0.2 0.1 -0.3
Kent Bottenfield 28 arb 64-0.2 0.2 -0.4
Robin Jennings 25 – 9-0.2 – –
Brant Brown 26 pre-arb 46-0.3 0.2 -0.5
Rey Sanchez↔ NYY 29 FA-elig 97-0.5 0.9 -1.4
Mike Hubbard 26 pre-arb 29-0.5 0.2 -0.7
Mel Rojas↔ NYM 30 FA-elig 54-0.5 3.2 -3.7
Tyler Houston 26 pre-arb 72-0.7 0.2 -0.9
Shawon Dunston↔ PIT 34 FA-elig 114-0.7 2.0 -2.7
Ramón Tatis 24 pre-arb 56-1.3 0.1 -1.5

Key additions (new vs 1996)

PlayerfWAR
Kevin Orie2.3
Kevin Tapani1.6
Mark Clark1.3
Terry Mulholland1.1
Geremi Gonzalez1.0
Dave Hansen0.5

Key subtractions (gone from 1996)

Player1996 fWAR
Jaime Navarro3.0
Luis Gonzalez2.7
Leo Gomez1.7
Jim Bullinger1.1
Dave Magadan0.6
Doug Jones0.3

Current & Historical Payroll

1997 payroll
$38.7M

What the front office was committed to as of 1997, 1997–2003. Pre-2015 has no contract-terms data — forward italic $ are realized actuals (hindsight, not commitments known then). Control labels (ARB/FA) are point-in-time.

current $ guaranteed $ actual $ (hindsight) arbitration (proj) pre-arb (proj) free agent

Guaranteed / signed (18)

PlayerAgeSvc1997199819992000200120022003
Sammy Sosa288.000$5.5M$8.3M$9.0M$11.0M$12.5M$15.0M$16.0M
Mark Grace339.000$4.5M$4.2M$4.1M$5.3MFREE AGENT
Kevin Tapani338.000$3.8M$4.0M$3.5M$6.0M$6.5MFREE AGENT
Ryne Sandberg3716.000$3.2MFREE AGENT
Mel Rojas307.000$3.2MFREE AGENT
Brian McRae297.000$2.8MFREE AGENT
Shawon Dunston3412.000$2.0MFREE AGENT
Terry Mulholland3411.000$1.5M$600k$1.8MFREE AGENT
Scott Servais306.000$1.4M$1.6MFREE AGENT
Lance Johnson3310.000$1.1M$4.9M$5.1MFREE AGENT
Bob Patterson3812.000$1.1M$900kFREE AGENT
Frank Castillo286.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
Rey Sanchez296.000$925kFREE AGENT
Mark Clark296.000$619k$5.0MFREE AGENT
Dave Clark3411.000$450kFREE AGENT
José Hernández276.000$450k$725k$1.6MFREE AGENT$460k
Dave Hansen287.000$325kFREE AGENT
Larry Casian317.000$95kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (7)

PlayerAgeSvc1997199819992000200120022003
Steve Trachsel264.000$2.1MARB 3FREE AGENT
Turk Wendell304.000$280kARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Foster284.000$275kARB 3FREE AGENT
Kent Bottenfield285.000$195kFREE AGENT
Miguel Batista265.000$153kFREE AGENT
Dave Stevens273.000$131kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Manny Alexander265.000$78kFREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (17)

PlayerAgeSvc1997199819992000200120022003
Terry Adams242.000$215kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tyler Houston261.000$185kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brant Brown261.000$155kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Doug Glanville261.000$155kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Swartzbaugh292.000$154kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Hubbard262.000$153kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ramón Tatis240.000$150kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Marc Pisciotta260.000$150kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Geremi Gonzalez220.000$150kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Orie240.000$150kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Miguel Cairo231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Robin Jennings251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brooks Kieschnick251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Terrell Lowery260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ramon Morel222.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rodney Myers281.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Amaury Telemaco231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Cubs 1997; the black line = the league-average player at each slot that season. Staying above the line deep into the roster is the depth edge; dropping below it = holes & dead weight.

What each regime is worth — every settled team-season since 1985

RegimeSeasonsWin %Playoff %Pennant %WS %
WINDOW 28152.131.05.01.1
CONTEND 30056.964.719.710.3
FORCED-SPEND 25648.09.81.61.6
REBUILD 32143.31.20.30.3
Rosternomics — quantifying front-office skill, attribution-clean. Follow @rosternomics on X. Decision-makers on record back to 1933; resource-controlled metrics (WAR & payroll) cover 1985–2026.
Data: FanGraphs (WAR), Baseball-Reference & the Chadwick Bureau register (rosters, IDs), the Lahman Database, Baseball America prospect rankings (via The Baseball Cube), and public payroll records. Transaction and trade data was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet. Executive birth/death data via Wikidata (CC0); bios are original. Emoji graphics by OpenMoji (CC BY-SA 4.0).
All figures are franchise-level outcomes credited to the decision-maker in the acquisition year — not solely attributable to one executive.